>> live from dw here in berlin, this is the "journal." welcome. president obama attends a memorial service for the victims of the boston bombing. unknown, a massive search and rescue continues in texas following an explosion at a fertilizer plant. >> in soccer, stuttgart book their place in the german cup final. we begin in the united states

where the fbi is searching for two individuals seen on surveillance video during the bombings in boston. the secretary of homeland security stopped short of calling them suspects and added that authorities need the public's help in locating them. >> president barack obama was at an interfaith memorial for those killed and wounded in the blasts. he again promised those responsible would be brought to justice. >> president obama and his wife michelle joined the city of boston in remembering the lives shattered by the explosions in the boston marathon. speaking in front of the victims, relatives, and survivors of the attack, obama declared the nation's support for boston in its time of need. >> i am here today on behalf of

the american people with a simple message -- every one of us has been touched by this attack on your beloved city. every one of us stands with you. >> the service's message was of comfort but also of resolve. boston mayor thomas menino praised the citizens' resilience. >> i'm telling you, nothing can defeat the heart of the city. nothing. nothing will take us down because we take care of one another. >> people arrived hours early to attend a memorial service. three people died in the bomb attack. 180 more were injured. the motives and identities of the bombers are unknown, but

over 1000 officers are working around the clock to bring the perpetrators to justice. >> our correspondent is following events in boston for us. a short while ago, he described how the people in boston are dealing with the situation, especially with the investigation providing new insight on who may be responsible. >> boston is slowly getting back on its feet, not only here in downtown where life is slowly coming back. shops are reopening. people are coming back into the city, but you could also feel that in the mindset of the people. boston is a tough city. it always gets up after hard blows, and you could always feel that, especially when the president exclaimed that boston will finish this race. everyone got on their feet. standing ovations. you could tell that this meant two things -- first of all, that there will be another marathon

in boston next year, but second, that the president and the united states will do everything in their power to bring these people to justice. with all the different hence they are getting with the picture, the footage, with the different leads they are getting, it is pretty probable that we will seek some kind of result within the next days. -- that we will see some kind of result. >> on to another developing story in texas -- governor rick perry has requested an emergency declaration from the government to deal with the massive explosion in the town of west. esteems come through the rubble for survivors, the latest reports say between five and 15 people died and more than 160 were injured. >> entire blocks of a town of about 3000 people have been completely leveled. the blast was so powerful that it registered as an earthquake.

>> the situation at the site of the blast remains highly dangerous. the town of west is now being hit by strong winds and thunderstorms. local residents not involved in the rescue work have been warned to stay inside. >> the disaster in west began as a fire. footage taken by a local resident on his mobile phone shows the moment of the blast. >> giant force pressure just pushing it back. and there is shrapnel. >> i can tell you i was there. i walked through the blast area. i searched some houses earlier tonight. massive. just like iraq. just like the murrah building in oklahoma city. >> dozens of homes and golf in the explosion that authorities believe came from a tank containing ammonia gas. one of the buildings damaged was

a seniors residents. neighbors ran in to help evacuate the elderly. emergency workers brought the residence to a nearby football field for treatment. many were then taken to hospitals. rescuers continued to search the area for survivors. investigators are also trying to piece together the sequence of events that led to the explosion. officials say this no indication yet the blast was anything other than a tragic industrial accident. >> there was a dramatic courthouse escape in pakistan today after former president bush are heard he was charged with treason. he bolted from the court room surrounded by his personal bodyguards. >> he then sped away in a black suv, that after pushing back -- pushing past other security guards. he is thought to be taking residence in his farm. the court ordered his detention.

for more on this story, let's talk to the head of the center for research and security studies in islamabad. first off, musharraf manages to escape from a heavily guarded courtroom without being arrested. what is going on? >> this has been quite a dramatic day in islamabad's history. musharraf basically took advantage of the confusion. within seconds, his security escort him out of the court room and took him to his farmhouse, where he has been blocked, surrounded by heavy deployment of police. we really do not know what happens tomorrow because he had

planned to petition the supreme court. the chief commissioner reportedly asked the military to provide access. >> it is a tense standoff. why do you think he decided to return to pakistan at all? did he overestimate his support? >> he clearly overestimated his chances of return to pakistan. somebody probably misled him. he could himself possibly answer the question, but it is clearly a strategic blunder he committed without realizing that the pakistan he was returning to is a changed country with an ever asserted judiciary, which is not sparing anybody it considers as violating the constitution. >> thank you very much.

italy's parliament has failed to elect a new president, dragging out the political stalemate the country has been experiencing since deadlocked elections in february. >> despite two rounds of voting, no candidate received the necessary 2/3 majority. many members of parliament cast blank ballots. it remains unclear if italy's divided parties will be able to agree on a single candidate. to cyprus now where politicians are breeding much easier after the german parliament voted overwhelmingly to grant their parliament 10 billion euros in aid. >> a big majority for angela merkel's cyprus a deal. almost all the opposition parties backed the bailout. they voted with the government while slamming merkel's handling of the crisis.

before the vote, the government said there was no alternative. the bundestag had to vote for the deal. no bailout would mean bankruptcy for cyprus and trouble for other struggling eurozone members. >> contagion could spread from cyprus across the entire eurozone, and that is why we believe cyprus needs financial aid. >> cyprus' eurozone partners are contributing 9 billion euros. germany will chip in 2.5 billion. the imf will provide 1 billion. leaving cyprus to raise 13 billion itself. that means cyprus rating the accounts of rich depositors. for the german opposition, the deal is the right one. >> we stand in solidarity with cyprus, but we have no sympathy for a business model that involves proclaiming yourself a haven for money launderers and

tax evaders. none at all. >> if the rest of the eurozone follow suit in backing the bailout, cyprus could receive the cash injection within weeks. >> the german economy is slowly awakening from its winter sleep. the country's leading economic research institutes have presented their spring forecast, saying they expect moderate growth of about 0.8% this year, but the think tanks are a bit more upbeat about 2014, where the forecast growth to reach about 2%, provided the current eurozone debt crisis does not spiral out of control. >> the economic outlook is bright. it is been booming bavaria. the state boasts near full employment. businesses like this are wide. it is an engineering firm. residential -- residents are up, order books full.

it provides a snapshot of the wider german economy. one of the country's leading think tanks believes it will keep on growing because there are tentative signs europe is on the mend. >> these figures reflect the diminishing uncertainty and the fact the markets are now calmer. >> the think tank's forecast is much more optimistic than the german government policy official estimate, and ultimately, there will be exporters who decide who gets it right and who gets it wrong. >> onto thursday's market action now, after trading higher for much of the session, the day's gains were wiped out after data out of the united states fell a bit short of expectations. our correspondence sent us this summary from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> investors seemed to think the

same as the main economic institutes do that the german exporters will be able to grow pretty fast outside the euro area and on the other hand that higher wages will lead to higher consumption in germany so that the consumption will be very important for economic growth, but this positive outlook did not help to keep markets up. markets went down after their has been the economic data and new corporate news coming from the u.s. >> we stay in frankfurt for a closer look at thursday's numbers. the dax giving up about 0.4%. slightly to the upside for the year of stoxx -- euro stoxx 50. across the atlantic, the dow

also trading down into negative territory. the euro slightly higher against the greenback, trading at a value of $1.3051. the portuguese government has approved around 800 million euros of new spending cuts that will keep its eu imf bailout on track. the additional cuts were necessary after parts of its unpopularity austerity plan were thrown out by the country's constitutional court. >> the budget slashing and other measures will allow me to meet this year's budget target of 5.5% of gross domestic product. portugal, which is now in the grips of its worst recession since the 1970's, has already imposed the biggest tax hikes in living memory. stay with us. when we come back, we have plenty of news for you, including german soccer. >> and the formula one

controversial race coming up. we will tell you all about it. stay with us.

>> welcome back. >> and thanks for staying with us. we continue in bahrain, which is stepping up security ahead of sunday's formula one grand prix race, which is taking place ahead of a bit of controversy. activists are demanding the race be cancelled due to the country's poor human-rights record, but organizers have billed the event as a force for good. >> it is the biggest sporting event hosted by the gulf state. it is, however, taking place against a backdrop of tensions as unrest continues in the arab island kingdom. >> clashes between pro-democracy

demonstrators and security forces in the country have occurred on an almost daily basis. here's more. >> with just a few days to go until the formula one race, protesters nearby rain's capital are stepping up their demonstrations -- protesters near bahrain's capital. steinberg says the ruling family has failed to open a dialogue with the opposition and that the situation is deteriorating. >> for the last two years, there has been unrest almost every night in the shiite villages. some of them, especially on the small island of sea trout, have grown to almost civil war-like conflicts. >> the unrest in bahrain began in february 2011 as protests spread across the arab world following revolutions in tunisia

and egypt. people took to the streets to demand an end to human rights violations. they also wanted a freely elected government instead of one appointed by the king. the protests were focused around pearl square, crowds pushing for a revolution. many of the protesters were women. a month later, the regime struck back with force. the crackdown was supported by bahrain's ally and neighbor, saudi arabia. riyadh sent troops to help quash the protests. tanks and helicopters cleared the square. 35 people were killed. the country is torn between iran and saudi arabia. this puts it in the front and

center of the standoff between sunni and shia muslims. >> bahrain is rightly fearful of the iranians, but in my view, it makes the mistake of presenting its own shia opposition as loyal to iran. at the same time, bahrain is in actual fact no longer independent. saudi arabia has always set the limits of any reform process there, and it has important allies within the ruling family, to the extent that i do not think bahrain can act completely independently. >> in other words, if the u.s. and european powers want to influence bahrain's king, they will have to do it through riyadh and the saudi royal family. am i germany, parliament has rejected an intent to introduce

a quota -- >> in germany, parliament has rejected an attempt to introduce a quarter for women in board rooms at companies, for now diffusing a controversial issue. >> the spd has a lot of nerve. opposition lawmakers hardly let christina schroeder speak. she shot right back, taking a soccer club as an example. >> a publicly owned company listed on the dax, and who sits on the board? the social democrats chancellor candidate, peer steinbrueck, and you guessed it, five other men. >> an awkward moment. the labor minister was the

conservatives most vocal supporter of quotas for women, but she fell off the party line and voted against the proposal. the opposition says the position is determined by politics, not the substance of the issue. >> i do not know what bothers me more in situations like this -- the ignorance that enables people to willfully ignored a problem or knowing what needs to be done but then in the end, as i fear will happen in this house, voting against one's own convictions. >> when the votes were counted, the governing coalition had defeated the proposal. anything else would have been a defeat for chancellor angela merkel. >> still to come, soccer action from the semis of the german cup. first, a look at other stories making headlines at this hour. north korea says it would be prepared to start talks with the

international community if united nations sanctions are lifted and all joint military drills between the united states and south korea are ended. seoul has dismissed the conditions as a comprehensible and absurd -- in a comprehensible and absurd. >> at each of its forest prime minister -- egypt's former prime minister has the mubarak was ordered back to jail after a medical team said his health was stable. supporters tried to delay the transfer. mubarak is to face retrial next month over his role in the deaths of protesters in 2011. >> a german weapons maker has signed a deal with qatar. the deal has been criticized because of concerns over qatar's human rights record. the cup final lineup is complete. >> stuttgart to face bayern

munich after a closely fought semifinal. >> a very close game. stuttgart looked brighter from the start. the home side was in the lead early in the match. the opposition to level moments later. but it was one of the only attacking moves of the game for freiburg. stuttgart got the winner later in the first half. fans can now look forward to a trip to berlin in june to take on bayern munich in the cup final. >> one of the most successful

olympic athletes of all time has announced his retirement. >> the british track cycling legend said it was not an easy decision but that it was the right decision. the 37-year-old won seven olympic medals including six gold. the highlight of his career came at last year's summer games when he added two gold medals to his collection. >> briefly, some tennis news now. defending champion rafael nadal in the quarter finals. >> he cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory, putting the spaniard on track to capture his ninth monte carlo masters title. now to a new german film on one of life's most daunting challenges -- learning to drive in foreign countries. >> "you drive me crazy" is a documentary about three

immigrants in three different countries preparing for driving test. it shows that when you earn your driver's license abroad, you pick up a lot about the land along the way. >> jake did not expect this in japan. the young american moved to tokyo to work as a graphic designer, but he is trying to anticipate oncoming traffic by the sound it makes. in japan, alert drivers are also talk -- taught how to shut the car door then settled. he wants something very few foreign have -- a driver's license. his instructor suspects jake is a cowboy at heart. >> americans in the wild west are often pretty hectic, but you cannot drive a car like you ride a horse. >> meanwhile in bavaria, this

learned driver looks right at home in her driving school, but appearances can be deceptive. behind the wheel is a different story. in munich, this caribbean driver's license is not worth much. >> you have not learned to drive in your country. would you have learned is useless. you cannot drive here and you could not drive there. >> "you drive me crazy" is a real-life experiment. protagonists have to take their driving test all over again in a different culture, which involves finding their way in the jungle of road signs, road rules, and driving styles, not to mention learning about cultural boundaries. >> you keep saying to me, "do you have a driving instructor in korea or wehat?" you are always saying it to me, and you are wrong. >> she is here to source fabrics for her fashion label.

to do so, she wants to drive across india. she has to learn to communicate with other drivers using hand signals and stay calm in heavy traffic. around the world, driving instructors are used to being the boss. >> when i teach you something, i expect you to do exactly what i tell you. that is the end of the matter. nothing else matters. >> the film is about more than cars. it is a fast-paced thriller about the clash of cultures. >> that is all for now. thanks for joining us. >> more news for you at the top of the hour. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--